U.S./World category, Page 750
Sheriff: Alligator attack suspected in Florida woman’s death
VALRICO, Fla. — An alligator apparently attacked a woman whose body was found in a retention pond near Tampa, sheriff’s officials said. Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputies found the woman’s body in a pond Sunday night, a news release said. The family of the 29-year-old woman told WFLA-TV that she was...
Virginia removes segregationist’s statue from Capitol Square
RICHMOND, Va. — Workers removed a statue of Harry F. Byrd Sr., a former Virginia governor, U.S. senator and staunch segregationist, from the state’s Capitol Square on Wednesday morning. A crane hoisted the larger-than-life statue off its pedestal and workers then strapped it to a truck to be hauled into...
Colby would be official Wisconsin cheese under bill
MADISON, Wis. — In cheese-obsessed Wisconsin, which proudly touts itself as America’s Dairyland, the dairy cow is the official domestic animal, milk is the official state beverage and cheese is the official dairy product. But believe it or not, in a state that produces more cheese than any other at...
Chinese social media giant WeChat shuts LGBT accounts
China’s most popular social media service has deleted accounts on LGBT topics run by university students and nongovernment groups, prompting concern the ruling Communist Party is tightening control over gay and lesbian content. WeChat sent account holders a notice they violated rules but gave no details, according to the founder...
Trump files suit against Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump has filed suit against three of the country’s biggest tech companies, claiming he and other conservatives have been wrongfully censored. Trump announced the action against Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube, along with the companies’ CEOs, at a press conference Wednesday in New Jersey. He...
Tropical Storm Elsa kills 1 in Florida, hurts 10 at Georgia base
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A weakened but resilient Tropical Storm Elsa killed at least one person in Florida on Wednesday and injured several others when a possible tornado struck a Navy base in southeast Georgia. The National Hurricane Center said Elsa still packed 45 mph winds more than six hours...
U.K. court allows U.S. to appeal denial of Assange’s extradition
LONDON — Britain’s High Court has granted the U.S. government permission to appeal a decision that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange cannot be sent to the United States to face espionage charges. The judicial office said Wednesday that the appeal had been granted and the case would be listed for a...
14 days after Florida condo collapse, no signs of survivors
SURFSIDE, Fla. — The search for victims of the collapse of a Miami-area high-rise condominium reached its 14th day on Wednesday, with the death toll at 46, scores still unaccounted for and authorities sounding more and more grim. Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah told family members in a private...
Haiti in upheaval: President Moïse assassinated at home
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Gunmen assassinated Haitian President Jovenel Moïse and wounded his wife in their home early Wednesday, inflicting more chaos on the Caribbean country that was already enduring gang violence, soaring inflation and protests by opposition supporters who accused the leader of increasing authoritarianism. Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph,...
Police: Georgia golf pro Eugene Siller slain because he came upon crimeVideo
KENNESAW, Ga. — Investigators believe a golf pro was shot to death on the course at his country club in the Atlanta suburbs because he witnessed a “crime in progress,” police said Tuesday. It does not appear that golf pro Eugene Siller was targeted, but rather was gunned down because...
Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks says he can’t be sued for inciting Capitol riot because he is a federal employee
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, an Alabama Republican, claims he can’t be sued over his fiery speech challenging the 2020 election results at a rally just before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot because he’s a federal employee. Brooks made the argument in a July 2 filing responding to a...
Regulator halts Iowa amusement ride after accident kills boyVideo
IOWA CITY, Iowa — A regulator on Tuesday ordered an Iowa amusement park not to restart a popular boat ride pending an investigation into an accident that killed an 11-year-old boy and left his brother in critical condition. Iowa Labor Commissioner Rod Roberts signed an order barring Adventureland Park from...
Officials: Storm lashing Florida strengthens into hurricaneVideo
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A storm that has lashed the Caribbean and the Florida Keys with pounding rain and gusty winds and complicated the search for survivors in a deadly condominium collapse has strengthened into a hurricane. The National Weather Service said Tuesday that Hurricane Elsa was packing winds as...
Chicago police: 100 shot, 18 homicides over holiday weekend
One hundred people — including two police officers — were shot in Chicago over the long Fourth of July weekend, including 18 homicides, the city’s police department said Tuesday. Among those injured were at least a dozen children. None of them had died as of Tuesday morning, but at least...
Union will defend teachers in ‘critical race theory’ fights
One of the nation’s largest teachers unions on Tuesday vowed to defend members who are punished for teaching an “honest history” of the United States, a measure that’s intended to counter the wave of states seeking to limit classroom discussion on race and discrimination. In prepared remarks obtained by the...
Wildlife, air quality at risk as Great Salt Lake nears low
The silvery blue waters of the Great Salt Lake sprawl across the Utah desert, having covered an area nearly the size of Delaware for much of history. For years, though, the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi River has been shrinking. And a drought gripping the American West could...
Pentagon cancels disputed JEDI cloud contract with Microsoft
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon said Tuesday it is canceling a cloud-computing contract with Microsoft that could eventually have been worth $10 billion and will instead pursue a deal with both Microsoft and Amazon. “With the shifting technology environment, it has become clear that the JEDI Cloud contract, which has long...
Grizzly bear attacks, kills camper in western Montana
HELENA Mont. — A grizzly bear attacked and killed a person who was camping in western Montana early Tuesday, after previously wandering into the campsite, the Powell County sheriff said. The attack happened between 4 and 5 a.m. in the area of Ovando, a town of fewer than 100 people...
U.S. left Afghan airfield at night, didn’t tell new commander
BAGRAM, Afghanistan — The U.S. left Afghanistan’s Bagram Airfield after nearly 20 years by shutting off the electricity and slipping away in the night without notifying the base’s new Afghan commander, who discovered the Americans’ departure more than two hours after they left, Afghan military officials said. Afghanistan’s army showed...
Demon-obsessed teenager convicted of murdering U.K. women
LONDON — A 19-year-old British man was convicted Tuesday of murdering two sisters as they celebrated a birthday in a London park, a crime driven by the deluded belief that the killings would help him win a lottery jackpot. A jury at London’s Central Criminal Court deliberated for eight hours...
Searchers at Florida collapse site ‘not seeing anything positive’
SURFSIDE, Fla. — Officials overseeing the search at the site of the Florida condominium collapse sounded increasingly somber Tuesday about the prospects for finding anyone alive, saying they have detected no new signs of life in the rubble as the death toll climbed to 36. Crews in yellow helmets and...
Thailand seizes 315 kilograms of heroin bound for Australia
BANGKOK — Customs officials in Thailand made their biggest seizure of heroin this year, about 315 kilograms (700 pounds) worth up to $29 million, bringing the total confiscated so far this year to 2 tons, officials said Thursday. They did not say where the drugs originated, but the seizure comes...
Egypt ends impounding of ship that got stuck in Suez Canal
CAIRO — An Egyptian court on Tuesday lifted a three-month long judicial seizure of a hulking shipping vessel that had blocked the Suez Canal for nearly a week earlier this year, paving the way for it to leave Egypt. Following the decision by the court in the city of Ismailia,...
Plane apparently crashes in Russia; 28 aboard feared dead
MOSCOW — A plane carrying 28 people apparently crashed as it came in for a landing in bad weather Tuesday in Russia’s Far East, and everyone aboard was feared dead. Wreckage from the Antonov An-26 was found near the airport in the town of Palana, according to officials. The plane...
Rural Alabama electric cooperative hit by ransomware attack
HARTFORD, Ala. — A utility that provides power in rural southeastern Alabama said it was hit by a ransomware attack that means customers temporarily can’t access their account information. Wiregrass Electric Cooperative, which serves about 22,000 members, said no data was compromised in the attack. But member account information and...
